At 12:01 a.m. this morning, Washington State started issuing same-sex couples marriage licenses for the first time and couples celebrated with certificates in hand. The state has a 3-day waiting period, so couples can’t get their certificates signed until Sunday at the earliest but it didn’t stop couples from lining up hours before.

The law was passed by legislators during the November elections when 54 percent of voters expressed their approval of Referendum 74 legalizing same-sex marriage. Washington is now one of nine states that have legalized gay marriage — Maine and Maryland approved same-sex marriage last month as well. Six other states — New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont — and the District of Columbia had already enacted laws or issued court rulings that permit same-sex marriage

It looks like we’ll finally get to see all the details from Anne Hathaway’s September wedding to hubby Adam Schulman, and it’s for a good cause! The marriage equality organization Freedom To Marry recently reported that Anne plans to donate a part of the proceeds from the sale of her wedding photos to the organization.

Hathaway joins the ranks of other A List celebs who have used their own wedding as a forum for promoting marriage equality like Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Brad Pitt who famously told Esquire in 2006, “Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able” (so far they’ve stood by that!).

Anne has been an advocate for the LGBT community and has spoken publicly about her gay brother. In 2008 Anne was awarded the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally Award.

It’s great to see celebs like Anne Hathaway using their popularity and influence to make a change, and you can too!

Many a couple has danced to the crooning ballads of Rufus Wainwright on their wedding day, and now it’s the singer’s turn to tie the knot. Tomorrow Wainwright weds his longtime boyfriend Jorn Weisbrodt at his home in Montauk. Yoko Ono and Carrie Fisher are expected to be among the 250 guests.

The couple is taking a non-traditional approach to their wedding plans. Here’s what else we know: They sent out video invitations, requested cash gifts to pay for a motor home (like as in a souped-up home on wheels that could cost anywhere from $55-75K), and plan to take a dip into the ocean after the ceremony. Wainwright will also perform.

In honor, we rounded up three of our favorite Rufus love songs…

Across the Universe (the cover version) Video is above — and features an adorably young Dakota Fanning!

Huang Mei-yu and Yu Ya-ting married in Taiwan’s first same-sex Buddhist wedding this past Saturday. The couple wore traditional white gowns and exchanged prayer beads, instead of rings at a Buddhist monastery in northern Taiwan.

According to the Taipei Times Buddhist Master Shiah Chao-hewi performed the ceremony and gave the women his blessing:

“I am certain you will lead a life of happiness together, especially after you have overcome so much difficulty and societal discrimination. You have blessings not only from the Buddha, but also from those whom you may or may not know who are in attendance.”

Even though the couple’s parents weren’t in attendance (because of the media exposure it would receive), Huang and Ya-ting said that they felt the presence of their parents.

The couple hopes that with the Buddhist master’s support, their wedding will change people’s perspective on same-sex marriage and hoping that Taiwan will be the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.

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New York Celebrates One Year of Marriage Equality!http://blog.theknot.com/2012/07/23/happy-anniversary-new-york-gay-marriage-reaches-one-year-markmark/
http://blog.theknot.com/2012/07/23/happy-anniversary-new-york-gay-marriage-reaches-one-year-markmark/#commentsMon, 23 Jul 2012 17:09:24 +0000http://blog.theknot.com/?p=5709]]>

On June 24th, 2011, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made waves by signing a bill to legalize same-sex marriage — and just one month later, that law finally went into effect. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of marriage equality in the largest (and arguably most influential) state to allow gay and lesbian nuptials.

So how many have wed since? State Department of Health figures indicate that at least 3,424 same-sex couples (six percent of the total number of weddings) have been married outside New York City as of mid-July, the Associated Press reports. And in New York City, roughly 5,054 marriage licenses were issued since February.

Also falling within this past year was President Barack Obama’s announcement publicizing his support for marriage equality. Even so, no state has yet to follow New York’s legalization of same-sex weddings.